“We never make it easy, “New Bremen coach Adam Dougherty said. “We grind out every win. Our kids are really tough. Sometimes we get away from what we try to do and when we get dialed back in — we are really good defensively. I thought we were outstanding defensively. We made them work for every touch. Every score was tough.”

A tough shooting night by both teams made the defense all the more important. New Bremen shot 17-of-47 from the field while Minster shot 14-of-53.

“I told our kids for as bad as what we shot most of the evening we had some turnovers in situations where they were that much more aggressive,” Minster coach Mike Lee said. “We got the look, a couple different options and that’s why we spend the five to ten minutes the night before kind of going over situations. Again, we executed. We just didn’t hit it.”

The two teams went back-and-forth in the first quarter allowing New Bremen to grab on to a 14-11 first quarter lead. Midway through the second quarter, Minster started to see its offense spark from Wolf as he led the Wildcats to a 21-19 lead with his steal and basket.

Minster went on a 13-0 run in the second quarter after they found themselves down, 13-19. The Wildcats took a slim 26-25 advantage at the break.

After halftime, the two teams fought for every shot and went neck and neck. Devon Poeppelman and his three-pointer at the beginning of the third quarter gave Minster a 29-25 advantage but New Bremen stormed back to take the lead back off a couple buckets from Schwieterman and Carson Manger.

New Bremen grabbed a 39-37 lead but Minster’s Adam Niemeyer found Wolf down low for a go ahead basket, 42-41. The Wildcats took a 43-41 lead with a free throw from Wolf but New Bremen took care of business and improved to 11-2 overall and 4-1 in the MAC. Minster fell to 7-5 and 1-3 in the league.

Wolf led Minster with 14 points and 15 rebounds — seven of those were offensive rebounds. Poeppelman had 13 points and three steals. Niemeyer finished with eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

Schwieterman led a balanced attack for New Bremen with 13 points, three assists and two steals. Carson Manger had nine points, four rebounds and two blocks. Justin Heitkamp had eight points and Parker Manger finished with 11 rebounds. Alex Speelman added six points and eight boards.